Introduction to The Tempest
- The Situation:
- The malicious actions of an enemy have forced you to abandon your home and your entire life. You and your group are adrift at sea in a small boat; everyone you know (including your enemies) thinks you are dead. However, you all wash ashore on a remote yet undiscovered island. It is tropical and has abundant resources for food and shelter. However, it is not inhabited – or at least not inhabited by what you recognize as human beings. There are beings here who possess good and evil powers that, for lack of other terms, you consider magical. You yourself learn how to work with, indeed to dominate, these beings and their powers so that you essentially come to control everything on and about the island.
- The Task:
- Working in your reading group, discuss this situation and record it first in a word document before posting it to the discussion tab of this page.
- Segment 1: This can be written in a list or note form, and it should include decisions your group has made about the basic situation, including but not limited to:
- How do you handle yourself when you first arrive on the island?
- What are the island and its inhabitants like when you arrive?
- How do you connect with and gain control over the beings who inhabit the island?
- How have you transformed the island and its inhabitants with your manipulative and magical powers?
- Segment 1: This can be written in a list or note form, and it should include decisions your group has made about the basic situation, including but not limited to:
- Working in your reading group, discuss this situation and record it first in a word document before posting it to the discussion tab of this page.
- Segment 2: A day in the life
- Consider a typical day on the island 10 or 15 years after your arrival. Convey the scene in a personal narrative that reflects character interaction. What would each person in your group do during a particular day? Your role as a controlling force should be clearly evident.
- Segment 3: Look what the wind blew in!
- There is a horrible storm at sea, as a result of which some or all of your enemies are washed ashore on your island. They do not know you are there, nor do they see you at first. You did not ever expect to see them again, but here they are. Somehow you meet up with each other, and you, the lord of the island, have to decide what to do. Do you take revenge? Do you invite them to remain with you on the island under your terms? Do you try to get them to rescue you so you can return back to civilization?
- Consider each of these aspects by looking at the possible threats to you and your child as well as the benefits. Weigh them carefully and explain what you will do. Your group has to reach one decision....majority rules!